Themes In Maya Angelou's Human Family, By Maya Angelou

Author’s often use their own techniques to demonstrate their themes, making their pieces their very own. Maya Angelou uses her poem, “Human Family” to express her opinion on celebrating differences. Moreover, Obama uses his powerful speech, full of anecdotes and historical allusions, to develop his theme that as a diverse nation, we truly are one. These two texts share the common theme that out of our many, celebrated differences, nations truly are one. However, they each have unique ways of sharing these themes.
In Maya Angelou’s, “Human Family” she uses lots of repetition to stress the importance of her theme. At the end of her poem she says, “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” Not only does she say it once, but three times coinciding. She clearly states her theme. It’s no mystery this is her theme and to make it even more obvious, she repeats it for her audience three times. She also uses repetition earlier in her poem, although, it is not as obviously stated. At the end of stanza four she says, “...I’ve seen the wonders of the world not yet one common man.”

It is evident they share similar themes because of the phrases expressed in each passage. In the “Human Family” it states, “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” This is similar to when Obama says, “...this nation is more than the sum of its parts-that out of many, we are truly one,” in his speech. They both are hitting on the idea that society has many differences, but also has many similarities. Most importantly, they express the idea that both differences and similarities should be recognized. Through the phrases the reader can clearly see the connection between the two themes. It is evident through these author’s word choice that they had similar themes for their